Theresa May went back on her word about last night’s “no deal” vote and then flip-flopped on whipping arrangements. No wonder four Cabinet ministers rebelled against a three-line whip.
Amber Rudd, David Gauke, Greg Clark and David Mundell are all heroes. They put the national interest ahead of personal ambition and party politics.
Normally, they would have been fired for such a breach of collective responsibility. But the prime minister has decided to keep them, as well as another nine junior ministers who rebelled. Only one minister, Sarah Newton, who voted against the three-line whip rather than abstaining, has resigned.
The country is now close to ungovernable. What is to stop the rebels from defying another three-line whip on Brexit in the coming days or weeks? What is to stop ministers from the hardline wing of the party also rebelling?
The prime minister is to blame for this mess. Her first mistake was to go against a solemn pledge she made at the House of Commons despatch box on February 26. She said she would table a motion by March 13 “asking this House if it supports leaving the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement and a framework for a future relationship on 29 March.”
But when the motion was actually published, she had added a nasty sting in the tail. She added the phrase: “and notes that leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement.” This was a sop to hardliners in her party which she had not previously mentioned.
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Not surprisingly, a group of backbench MPs, led by the Tory Caroline Spelman, proposed snipping off the offending phrase. They also suggested removing the reference to March 29 so that the motion said we should never leave the EU without a deal.
The prime minister then engaged in further tricksy behaviour. On Tuesday night, she had said there would be a free vote on the “no deal” motion. But yesterday she decided to whip against Spelman’s amendment while allowing a free vote on the so-called Malthouse amendment.
This was another blatant sop to hardline Brexiters in her party. The Malthouse amendment proposed another of their cake-and-eat-it fantasies – that we could enjoy the “transition” period agreed with the EU to cushion the blow of Brexit while refusing to sign our divorce deal.
The prime minister was pandering to populism. Although the Malthouse scheme was eventually roundly defeated by MPs, allowing a free vote on it further damaged her credibility with our EU partners.
May also tried to strong-arm Spelman to pull her amendment. But after Labour’s Yvette Cooper pushed it instead, that ploy failed too – and the amendment passed narrowly.
The prime minister then engaged in yet more trickery. She decided to whip against her own motion since it had been amended by Cooper. If she had succeeded in defeating the motion, we would be heading for the precipice in two weeks’ time.
It was at that point that Rudd and the others abstained. The Commons then voted by a fat majority against quitting the EU without a deal. The prime minister was left with the double humiliation of losing the motion and keeping the rebels in her government.
One might have hoped for more straightforward behaviour from a vicar’s daughter. But May’s trickery seems to be a character trait. The brave ministers will have to be on watch for further backsliding in the coming weeks – including when the whipping arrangements are decided for tonight’s big vote on delaying Brexit.
